A New Generation of Wrestlers

Through the strong efforts in recruiting friends & promoting wrestling during club days, the Galileo wrestling team gained a whopping 16 new wrestlers, mainly freshman, for this year’s team. This is a huge achievement for the team as the past couple years, there has been no more than 3 freshmen recruits. All of these new wrestlers have shown great potential in terms of natural talent, motivation, and limitless energy.

The coaching staff has been particularly pleased with the number of new recruits. Coach Ronald Griffin talked about the benefits of having these newcomers stating, “there are so many advantages to having freshmen join a team. They have a whole four years to learn the sport and realize their athletic potential. And When the freshmen that join understand that they’re a team and their success lies in one another, it’s even better.” He added, “these additions can help ensure our ability to field a dominant team for years to come.”

The reason it has been difficult for the team to gain new wrestlers is because of the grueling nature of the sport that drives people away, which includes daily practices, strict eye on weight, and tough competitions. During practice the team pushes their limits with runs to the pier, weightlifting, and technique sessions. When the team isn’t practicing, they’re competing with schools outside of San Francisco in order to gain more experience from better team, all while trying to shed weight.

Senior captain Kyle Paisansiri recognizes the difficulty for freshmen to endure for the entire season. He said,“nobody really knows anything about wrestling, and the fact that freshmen tried something that is so scary and hard like wrestling makes me believe that those who stick with it are going places.”

The returning wrestlers are happy that the freshmen have stuck around and have worked hard in order to contribute to the team’s goals. It is crucial to the team, that they ;show dedication to their team and the sport, in order to succeed in the future. With this new group of young wrestlers undergoing a strong training program, the Galileo Wrestling team is seeking to win another team title in the All-City tournament.

Although it has been challenging for them, the group of newcomers are enjoying themselves in trying something new and showing school spirit though wrestling. Freshman wrestler Kobe Cabuntala talked about his drive for wrestling saying “Being supportive to the school and being competitive is what gives me motivation to wrestle.” He also talked about his enthusiasm for the sport stating “I feel great right now and I can’t wait for more action to come.”

Another first year wrestler Alex Harrington talked about why he joined the team saying, “I wanted to do some extracurriculars and it seemed like I would be good at wrestling so I joined just to see what it was like, and I stayed in because I really liked it.” He also mentioned his thoughts while currently in the season saying “I feel like things are going really well, I’m having fun and I hope to win for the team.”